Top Ten TV Shows of 2013

And we arrive at last at the best of the best. This top ten has me more melancholy than last year's, as three of these shows are now gone from the airwaves, resting forever in the annals of TV history, and a couple more are officially getting up there in years. But where there's clouds there's a silver lining, because a few of these shows are yet newborn babes just getting their runs started. On to it:

10. American Dad (Fox)
Best 2013 Episode: Season 8 Episode 18 - "Lost In Space" | Up 2 from 2012

My highest-ranked comedy this year, American Dad – despite being a downright ancient show that's been on since less than a year after I graduated high school – is still swinging for the fences. Oh, it had plenty of bad episodes this year. As many as anything else in my top twenty. But the four or five times a year that its producers really buckle down and decide they want to make something great, they're capable of churning out half-hours of such ambition, imagination and artistry that I bow before them. "Lost In Space," which follows Hayley Smith's kidnapped stoner husband Jeff to the mothership of the aliens who took him, is my favorite sitcom episode of 2013. It packs a whole great animated sci-fi action-comedy musical with its own mythology and epic settings into just 22 minutes, and, even if it weren't funny, would be something to behold on account of sheer scale alone.

For the record, American Dad and Bob's Burgers were neck and neck in these rankings – the latter even a touch ahead – until Dad's December 1st episode "Independent Movie," a sendup of indie coming-of-age flicks and the Fox Searchlight formula that calls to mind Galaxy Quest and "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas" in how note-perfect a spoof it is. But the two shows really function as yin and yang; Bob's as the warm and realistic animated sitcom and Dad as the dark and surreal one. I watch both back-to-back every week and they complement each other perfectly. They're milk and cereal, baby.

9. Parenthood (NBC)
Best 2013 Episode: Season 4 Episode 13 - "Small Victories" | Down 4 from 2012

I'll admit first thing that Parenthood had its problems this year. This fall, I should really say, as the big albatross around season 5's neck has been Kristina Braverman's mayoral run, something which dragged the show in a very weird West Wing-lite direction that just isn't what I watch this bighearted family drama for at all. I'd almost compare it to the "Landry murders a rapist" subplot in Jason Katims' last show Friday Night Lights in how weirdly perpendicular to the premise of the show it seems (in fact, the parallel is almost spookily exact, with the offending subplots both being introduced in season premieres of each show and wrapped up in episode 9 of the same seasons).

But I'm willing to overlook mayoral shenanigans and top ten Parenthood (yes, "top ten" is a verb now!) the third year running for two reasons: One, that subplot is over. Two – and this is something I can't even say about several shows above Parenthood on this list – I care. You see, I'm a pretty emotionally guarded guy when it comes to fiction and forming true, genuine emotional investments in characters. I'm not generally a crier when watching TV, not a gasper or an applauder or any of that shit. You could count with fingers and toes to spare the number of TV shows ever made where I actually care about the characters on that level. Parenthood is one of those shows. I ache for the characters' pains, I cheer their victories; I'm invested in their lives top-to-bottom with all my heart. And that's why Parenthood, story problems aside, remains one of my favorite shows on television.

8. The Legend of Korra (Nickelodeon)
Best 2013 Episode: Season 2 Episode 7/8 - "Beginnings" | Same Rank as 2012

Oh hey second consecutive show in my top ten that was riddled with pretty significant problems this year! Yes, the first half of Korra's second season is animated by the same studio who does Naruto, whose work is clearly inferior to Studio Mir's. Many episodes are just messes of disconnected subplots. And the season's climactic final battle is won via a deus ex machina that makes the end of The Matrix Revolutions look smartly-foreshadowed and narratively logical.

But then... "Beginnings." The two-part Studio Mir-animated prequel episode that takes us back ten millennia in the Avatar universe to show us the genesis of the Avatar. I'mma be straight with y'all: I fucking love this episode. I love it as much as anything I've seen on TV all year. As much as anything I've seen in a movie theater all year. As much as any sex I've had all year. I love it for how visually inventive it is, and how emotional it is, and how epic in its timeframe and geographical span and impact on this fictional universe it is, and just how narratively and thematically and mythologically satisfying it is. One particular moment at the end (when Raava says "We are bonded forever." and the thirty seconds immediately after) literally gave me goosebumps. I watched this two-parter four times before the next episode hit.

It's time to cut the shit and call "Beginnings" what it is: The best animated medieval fantasy film since Princess Mononoke came out in 1997. A short, roughly 45-minute film, sure. But a masterpiece nonetheless. (Though I will say that Disney's great new princess flick Frozen is no slouch either.) And that's why The Legend of Korra is in my top ten.

7. Arrow (The CW)
Best 2013 Episode: Season 1 Episode 23 - "Sacrifice" | Up 17 from 2012

The CW and former Everwood producer Greg Berlanti's vigilante/superhero drama Arrow is my hands-down, far-and-away, nothing-else-even-in-contention pick for 2013's most improved TV show. Starting in the last few episodes of season 1 and continuing all through season 2, this Green Arrow adaptation stepped it up about twenty notches in almost literally everything from what it was last year: Character development and character dynamics, humor, cinematography, action scenes, excitement, pacing, thematic depth; all now firing on all cylinders. A year ago my overall stance on Arrow was "It's not bad." Today? I count the hours until new episodes and devour each one as a ravenous beast.

That Arrow is a better superhero show than Marvel's Agents of N.C.I.S. S.H.I.E.L.D. goes without saying. While that show futzes about with its disposable little cases of the week, Arrow is a layered, propulsive serial. While that show's wooden cast continues to feel like they're reciting lines at each other, Arrow's characters have become rounded and engaging, with real dynamics. And while that show is restricted to barely even using the Z-list Marvel characters no one's heard of, Arrow delivers the DC Comics goods: Barry Allen (aka The Flash), Black Canary, Deathstroke, China White, Count Vertigo, Deadshot and Solomon Grundy just this year. It's even namedropped Ra's al Ghul! (Though he hasn't appeared yet and when he does it's admittedly pretty damn unlikely he'll be Liam Neeson.)

What may go less without saying – but stands no less true – is that Arrow is the best onscreen superhero story of 2013, period. You can keep your Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel and The Wolverine and Thor: The Dark World. I'll be over here watching Arrow, which is engaging in storytelling more vital than any of them. With a Flash spinoff coming next fall from the same team I can officially say I'm a million times more interested and invested in Greg Berlanti's televised DC Comics universe than Zack Snyder's cinematic one. Fingers crossed we get to see Berlanti's take on Wonder Woman one day.

6. Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Best 2013 Episode: Season 1 Episode 11 - "Tall Men With Feelings" | Debuted 2013

I always found Weeds – even its reportedly best seasons – pretty tough to sit through, and after the Girls and The Americans incidents I've become super wary when it comes to TV critics jerking off to new shows all over the internet before they even air. So you'll understand why I was hesitant and held off a few weeks when it came to hitting play on the first episode of Weeds creator Jenji Kohan's new women-in-prison drama Orange Is the New Black, less despite and more because of all the critical adulation.

But hey, stopped clock, twice a day and all that. I eventually did fire up the pilot episode "I Wasn't Ready," and proceeded to inhale the rest of the first season in the space of about a week. Goddamnit if Orange Is the New Black isn't just as good as everyone said.

A lot of why I adore this show probably has to do with tone. In a year when damn near every new non-broadcast drama from The Americans to House of Cards to The Bridge to Low Winter Sun seemed to be trying to one-up all that came before it in how utterly bleak and despairing and joyless it could be, Orange Is the New Black is glorious sunlight bursting through the clouds. It has fleeting moments of darkness and violence, sure, but they're earned, and it is ultimately a show about community, about finding joy in the mundane, about the bonds between us rather than the antihero bullshit that drives us apart. Granted, said bonds are forced on the characters by the shackles of prison, but aren't so many great TV shows about people forced together by circumstance? High school-set teen dramas, workplace sitcoms, and so on – Orange Is the New Black is a new and wonderful spin on classic formula.

Best TV Episodes, June 2013

10. Defiance, Season 1 Episode 11 – "The Bride Wore Black"

I'm gonna level with you guys: Despite scratching a certain nostalgic '90s-style cheesy sci-fi itch, Defiance isn't really all that great a show. But the thing about summer is that the ol' TV schedule thins out in a fucking hurry, so suddenly shows like this that wouldn't have made the cut in January through May suddenly find themselves on my "Best TV Episodes" lists while far superior shows like New Girl and Scandal, thanks to their in-season airing schedule, languish unranked. It ain't fair, but it's life. So here's a decent episode of Defiance about the human and alien frontier town of Defiance coming together for a human/alien interspecies wedding. Hooray!

9. Mad Men, Season 6 Episode 11 – "Favors"

As I've discussed before on this blog, on Twitter, on forums and in person with people who know me, I am, to the best of my ability to tell, literally the only person on the planet earth who watches and likes Mad Men but who has never at any point considered it to be one of my favorite shows. And, you know, that's fine. Everyone got their own opinions and shit. This episode probably wouldn't have made my top ten cut any other month this year either, but it was good. Sally discovered some harsh truths about Don, and the jolt it gave her character arc was genuinely engaging stuff.

8. Orphan Black, Season 1 Episode 10 – "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"

Though Orphan Black's finale isn't the season's best episode – that would be episode six, "Variations Under Domestication," which detailed the craziest, clone-iest suburban house party ever – I am glad to find room for this little genre gem, one of the best out-of-nowhere surprises of 2013. Sure, its fans can go a little overboard, but that's just what genre TV fans do. Berating them for it is like berating a dog for barking. The show's debut season ended strongly, bringing simmering Sarah/Helena tensions to a head and of course continuing Tatiana Maslany's unbroken streak of greatness.

7. The Fosters, Season 1 Episode 3 – "Hostile Acts"

Outside of the aberration that is Parenthood over on NBC, ABC Family is (fittingly, given their name) pretty much the only network on television working to keep the classic non-genre, non-life-or-death-stakes family drama alive. First there was Switched at Birth, and it was good. Now there's The Fosters, and I'd say it's pretty damn good too. Granted, part of why I like it is because it presents a Republican's feverish nightmare vision of contemporary American life – lesbian moms with an interracial family, holy shit! – but it's also written with emotional clarity and authenticity that I wish more shows would strive for. (I realize there's little discussion of this specific episode here, but that's because I doubt anyone reading this has seen this show yet. You should, though!)

6. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 10 – "Mhysa"

Game of Thrones' third season finale had about fifty storylines, as is par for the course with the saga of Westeros, but my favorites would probably be (spoilers, as if everyone doesn't already watch this show) Samwell and Bran meeting up, which has the fun feel of a crossover event, Arya and the Hound getting rough with some Frey men, and one scorcher of a King's Council scene as Tyrion learns about the bloody events of the previous episode. One of the best Tyrion/Tywin scenes of the series, which is saying something.

5. Mad Men, Season 6 Episode 13 – "In Care Of"

This was the best episode of Mad Men's sixth season (and the first episode on this June list that has a shot at making my top fifty TV episodes of the year) mostly because of Don Draper's journey, which is definitely something unusual for me to say as Don's relatively static inner life across six years of television is the main reason I can't really call Mad Men a show I love. But the end of this episode did a surprising and moving job of remedying that, and successfully sets the stage for a very different and very interesting final season next year.

4. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 12 – "Relevés"

As is the case with many a half-"mythology," half-episodic show, Hannibal dropped the cases of the week and focused in on the big picture as it entered the home stretch, in this case bringing the twisted and oddly emotionally affecting three-way relationship between Will, Hannibal and Abigail Hobbs to the fore. And I daresay they did a surprising and effective job moving towards closure on it, further securing Hannibal's almost inevitable legacy as the greatest new show of 2013.

3. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 13 – "Savoureux"

Great season finale. I don't want to say much for fear of spoilers, but I have a whole podcast on the subject available to make love to your ears. The one thing I'll say is that I really loved the episode's use of "Vide Cor Meum" from Ridley Scott's Hannibal movie, a use vastly more memorable and effective than in the film it was originally composed for. Hell, creating that song and lending it to Hannibal the show might be Hannibal the film's greatest contribution to popular culture.

2. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 11 – "Rôti"

One last hurrah for the more episodic side of Hannibal before the myth arc took over in the season's penultimate and finale episodes, "Rôti" is the sequel to the series' sixth episode, "Entrée," bringing Eddie Izzard's Dr. Gideon back into the fold. Gideon may not create corpse totems or cello men or mushroom people, but his unhinged lunatic style has its own charm, and between Columbian neckties and living vivisection and organ harvesting, I doubt "Rôti" left anyone wanting in the gruesome violence department. Will's mental problems deepened and all that good character development stuff, but first and foremost I'd say this episode kicked ass.

1. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 9 – "The Rains of Castamere"

Ok, I've been patiently holding this in for three years, so here goes: RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING RED WEDDING. THANK YOU.

Man, that felt good to get off my chest. As everyone else on the internet has already discussed and dissected this episode's final ten minutes a million times over, I have nothing else to add to the conversation beyond a good old fashioned holy fucking shit!

Ranking New Fall 2012-Spring 2013 Network TV Shows

(Presented without comment)

Televised atrocities that are an embarrassment to the entire medium:

33. Do No Harm (NBC) Canceled
32. Beauty and the Beast (The CW)
31. 666 Park Avenue (ABC) Canceled

Very bad-to-bad shows:

30. The Mob Doctor (Fox) Canceled
29. Partners (CBS) Canceled
28. Malibu Country (ABC) Canceled
27. Family Tools (ABC) Canceled
26. Made In Jersey (CBS) Canceled
25. Zero Hour (ABC) Canceled
24. Cult (The CW) Canceled
23. Guys With Kids (NBC) Canceled
22. Animal Practice (NBC) Canceled
21. Red Widow (ABC) Canceled

Middling shows that inspire no emotion:

20. How to Live With Your Parents For the Rest of Your Life (ABC) Canceled
19. Emily Owens, M.D. (The CW) Canceled
18. 1600 Penn (NBC) Canceled
17. Deception (NBC) Canceled
16. Golden Boy (CBS) Canceled
15. The Neighbors (ABC)
14. The New Normal (NBC) Canceled
13. Vegas (CBS) Canceled
12. The Following (Fox)
11. Chicago Fire (NBC)
10. The Carrie Diaries (The CW)

Shows not worth seeking out, but watchable if they happen to be on:

9. Elementary (CBS)
8. Ben and Kate (Fox) Canceled
7. Go On (NBC) Canceled
6. Last Resort (ABC) Canceled
5. Revolution (NBC)
4. The Mindy Project (Fox)

Shows I actually kinda like:

3. Nashville (ABC)

Shows I like very much:

2. Arrow (The CW)

Bona fide great television:

1. Hannibal (NBC)

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 7: Hannibal Supreme

We've braved mushroom people, immolation, corpse totems, throat violins, mental breakdowns and many disturbingly delicious-looking cannibalistic dishes, and the first season of NBC's Hannibal has come to a triumphant close. Now let's make like those relatively anonymous lab techs and have us a post-mortem. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers galore, so watch before you listen, lest you spoil your supper. Bon appétit.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 7: Hannibal Supreme

Best TV Episodes, May 2013

10. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 8 – "Second Sons"

While I love Game of Thrones – and the sheer novelty of a high fantasy series on this scale on the small screen continues to delight – there's been some drag in Westeros this season, and several instances where I've found myself thinking, "Ok, feel free to step up the pacing any moment now." Thankfully, "Second Sons" did just that with a relatively tight focus on King's Landing, Dragonstone and Yunkai, capped off with a nice little Sam vs. White Walker tag. Tyrion and Sansa's wedding and especially its reception were great set pieces full of tension and humor alike, and as an added bonus this episode is the first in a long time that actually measures up to Game of Thrones' generally hyperbolic reputation for extreme nudity.

9. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 1 – "Flight of the Phoenix"

Despite initially claiming Michael's second spotlight episode, "The B. Team," to be my preferred of Arrested Development season 4's Michael episodes, I'm afraid I'll have to prove what a noncommittal coward I am by going back on that just a week later. On reexamination and a little rewatching, I've decided that the fourth season premiere is actually one of the season's better episodes, if only for the pleasure of initially catching up with everyone, seeing Sudden Valley fill in with houses (but not people), Gob force-feeding Michael a forget-me-now and of course Michael mistakenly being voted out of a four-person housing situation. It's a strong kickoff with a strong focus on Michael and George Michael's relationship, perhaps the series' bedrock.

8. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 9 – "Smashed"

I wasn't especially crazy about Tobias' first season 4 spotlight, which got way too bogged down in DeBrie and Fantastic Four spoofing, but those very same elements were turned into things going in favor of Tobias' second episode. We get a great Tobias/Michael scene, Tobias acting as a analrapist theralist onscreen at length for the first time ever, and the return of the sung "Mr. F!" stinger. By all means, read more thoughts here.

7. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 8 – "Fromage"

Hannibal turned its sights on the musical arts in this episode about a killer who very much enjoys crafting the strings for violins and cellos from human entrails. The beheaded "Cello Man" was one of the series' more chilling instillation-artist-kills to date, we pushed Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter's twisted friendship along nicely, and this normally patient and methodical series even found time for an amazingly kick-ass fight scene at this episode's climax. As an added bonus, "Fromage" also featured Dr. Lecter preparing some truly delicious-looking bread pudding, which I venture is probably even safe for non-cannibals to enjoy.

6. The Office, Season 9 Episode 23 – "Finale"

The Office's very good series finale at the tail end of two seasons I cared very little about is like a sudden orgasm seventeen minutes after you've lost interest in the sex you're having: It'd have been better much earlier, but still, you're glad for it. I'll miss the show very much and at the same time I'm so fucking relieved it's finally over. "Finale" wasn't often laugh-out-loud hilarious – sitcom finales rarely aspire to be – but managed to leave the show's entire cast in emotionally satisfying places. It went out with the bittersweet tang I'd always imagined this show, which was once one of my favorites on television, would have and should have. And yes, a salt-and-pepper Michael Scott showed up for a cameo, extended enough to be emotionally affecting but quick enough not to steal the show from anyone else. Thumbs way up.

5. Arrow, Season 1 Episode 23 – "Sacrifice"

Keeping in mind that we haven't seen what Hannibal has up its sleeve yet, Arrow has hands-down the best season finale of any network show so far this spring. It almost had a Buffy's "The Gift"-esque hugeness in scale and sheer climactic feel to it as Starling City began literally crumbling under the influence of the season's big supervillain plot. And the show didn't just tell, but showed buildings collapsing and streets imploding and anarchy abound, and it was huge and scary and awesome. The episode had big action, big emotion, big reveals and a twist that floored me in its final minutes. This is exactly what pulpy action/adventure TV serial season finales should look like.

4. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 12 – "Señoritis"

As I mentioned in my review of "Señoritis," I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Maeby's sole season 4 spotlight, as she'd never really been one of my favorite main characters in the original series. But this messy yet extremely enjoyable episode smooshes together a whole lot of character development, misunderstandings, Hollywood satire, reveals about previous episodes and Maeby and George Michael into of one the season's most entertaining and fast-paced half-hours. It also, in its final moments with the return of "Hey, whatcha tryin' to say to me?", contains one of the season's best callbacks to the original series.

3. American Dad, Season 8 Episode 18 – "Lost in Space"

American Dad is a maddeningly inconsistent series which, in any given run of four episodes, usually averages about one mediocre-to-crappy episode, two moderately enjoyable outings and one that's among the best sitcom episodes of its month, animated or live action. Those in the lattermost category include last year's "Ricky Spanish" and "Adventures in Hayleysitting," and now "Lost in Space," which isn't just good but phenomenal and one of the best episodes of the entire series.

Detaching entirely from the titular American dad and the core Smith family, this episode follows alien prisoner Jeff Fischer back to a space station above Roger's home planet, where he tries to figure out how to escape captivity in a big, stylish intergalactic musical action-adventure comedy extravaganza that might just be the year's most purely ambitious comedy episode. It almost felt like a whole space opera compressed into 22 minutes with jokes added, complete with a lot of really impressive alien design and massive, complicated "sets" that showed a hell of a lot of visual imagination. It had emotional depth that you never really associate with Seth MacFarlane and a bittersweet, melancholy ending. If only they'd ended the season here instead of one far lesser episode later.

2. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 7 – "Sorbet"

Aka the dinner party episode. I have a whole podcast where this episode and my thoughts on it are discussed at respectable length, but suffice to say I thought the whole thing was chilling, gorgeously rendered perfection. The show – and this food-centric episode in particular – is simply intoxicating in a way that I rarely associate with TV. Or really any fiction, for that matter. The atmosphere is so thick, the visuals so elegantly rendered with a care for framing and color and craftsmanship that puts most feature films to shame, and Mads Mikkelsen's performance so charismatic and frightening (Hugh Dancy is also great, of course, but "Sorbet" is clearly Dr. Lecter's hour) that the show simply demands respect. It's stellar fucking television.

1. Arrested Development, Season 4 Episode 7 – "Colony Collapse"

Will Arnett was put on this earth to play Gob Bluth and it's no surprise that I loved catching up with one of the greatest television characters of all time. It's a massively enjoyable episode, possibly the only installment of season 4 that I'd truly stack up against the show's original '03-'06 run. More thoughts here! And with that I'm announcing my retirement from writing about Arrested Development until late December when it comes time to do my yearend wrap-up, because I adore the show, but at a certain point, goddamn do you burn out typing about one show no matter what it is. But do check out my season 1-3 rankings if you haven't seen them yet.

Last week – the best TV news week ever?

About five weeks back when I discussed Parenthood's renewal for a 22-episode fifth season, I opined that one of the few pieces of TV news that could have possibly made me happier was Dan Harmon being rehired on Community. That I mentioned this directly alongside the possibility of a time traveler coming back to tell me that George R.R. Martin releases his novels fast enough for Game of Thrones to finish properly should indicate how little I actually believed this would ever happen.
Barring Friday Night Lights and ignoring its sans-Harmon fourth season (which had its high points, but a largely mediocre final arc that crashed and burned with a disastrous finale that's easily the worst episode of the series), Community is the best TV show to air episodes in the last five years. That's opinion, of course, but it's the correct opinion, and certainly no one but contrarians worthy of no thought beyond that needed to roll your eyes can deny the sheer bounty of ambition and creativity that poured forth from this amazing show under Dan Harmon. Frankly, I'll be a little surprised if we see a live-action sitcom season as singularly imaginative as Community season 2 again in my lifetime.
But more important than the formal experimentalism of Community – which season 4 tried without Harmon, and did an ok job with from time to time, but it really, really wasn't the same – this means we'll finally get these characters back on the paths of the emotional journeys their creator intended them to take. Except for Pierce, anyway, but the real Jeff and Britta and Troy and Abed and Annie and Shirley are back, baby. They're fucking back.
So yeah, I'm happy. I'm modulating here, because the sheer extent of how deliriously fucking joyful I am that I'm going to get my favorite TV show back (keeping in mind that I don't consider season 4 the same show) can't really be overstated. Just a few weeks ago I was terrified and depressed that the dreadful "Advanced Introduction to Finality" might be the series finale of Community. And now Dan Harmon is going to get to write the series finale of Community. What the fuck could be better than that?

The answer is nothing, of course. But you know what's a damn close second? The renewal of the spectacular work of horrific televised art that is Bryan Fuller's Hannibal; a vote of confidence for great storytelling in defiance of its mediocre-to-poor ratings. Hannibal isn't just good, it's utterly fantastic. As of this point in its season it's the best debut season for any TV drama since Game of Thrones in 2011 and the best debut season for a network drama since Friday Night Lights in 2006.
Barring Bunheads and The Legend of Korra, it makes me want to go back and reedit just about every positive review I gave a new series in the last two years, because it makes me realize I was faking that positivity all along. Because here is actual bona fide great fucking television worthy of true, unfettered enthusiasm.
And NBC renewed it, and we're going to get to watch this awesome show again come 2014. With Bunheads probably canceled at this point, this is the welcome renewal news I needed to keep going with this whole "being a fan of TV the medium" thing.
(Want to literally hear more on what I have to say on Hannibal? You're in luck, because I already have three podcasts on the topic, with a fourth on the way! Here, here and here. I'd advise one at a time, but if you can listen to three at once like some kind of multitasking beast, hey, rock on. Rock on.)
Dan Harmon rehired on Community, Hannibal renewed against all odds, Parenthood coming back for its fifth (and second full-length) season... What are these feelings I'm feeling towards NBC? It's not like envy, or even hungry... It's like my heart is getting hard.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 6: Hannibal Ketchup

This week on the ol' Tim's TV Talk Podcast we play catch up and talk about the last three episodes of NBC's Hannibal: Episode 7, "Sorbet" (aka the dinner party episode), episode 8, "Fromage" (aka the Cello Man episode), and episode 9, "Trou Normand" (aka the corpse totem/Abigail Hobbs episode). Spoilers for the first nine episodes of Hannibal, duh! And profanity and graphic violence! Yeah, this is one intense podcast. Can you handle it?

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 6: Hannibal Ketchup

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 4: Hannibal Episode 6 ("Entree") Review

Here's a 13-minute podcast review of the sixth episode of Hannibal (or fifth, if you don't count episode 4, "Œuf," which was pulled in America). Hannibal spoilers up through this episode, of course. Bon appétit.

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 4: Hannibal Episode 6 ("Entree") Review

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 3: The Following & Hannibal

We got a serial killer double-feature this week on the Tim's TV Talk Podcast as we discuss network TV's two murderiest new shows, Fox's The Following and NBC's Hannibal. Spoilers for the entire first season of The Following and for Hannibal up through episode 5, "Coquilles."

Tim's TV Talk Podcast, Episode 3: The Following & Hannibal

Best TV Episodes, April 2013

10. Supernatural, Season 8 Episode 20 – "Pac-Man Fever"

I've discussed a couple times now how, despite its season and series-spanning arcs growing stale over the years, Supernatural is still capable of busting out a thunderously entertaining case-of-the-week, and that stands true up to its eighth season's last standalone episode, "Pac-Man Fever." Marking the third appearance of Felicia Day's geek hacker chick Charlie Bradbury but the first that has told a primarily dramatic rather than comedic story about her (outside of an Inception–esque trip into a zombie shoot 'em up game in her mind, anyway), the episode's final scene between Charlie and her comatose mother made my heart hurt in a way that only TV at its best does so well these days.

9. Community, Season 4 Episode 11 – "Basic Human Anatomy"

Though I enjoyed bits and pieces of its documentary and puppet episodes (the balloon song from "Intro to Felt Surrogacy" has been stuck in my head for weeks), it is, of all things, its body swap episode (!!) that comes closest to capturing how insanely well Community executed its "gimmick" episodes under the reign of Harmon. It was emotional and tied deeply into characterization and character development, but was also quite funny (Exhibit A: The Dean's Jeff Winger impression), and Jeff flicking the lights on and off during the final "body swap" scene reminded of him picking up the imaginary hats in "Pillows and Blankets," one of the sweetest scenes of the entire series.

8. Bob's Burgers, Season 3 Episode 20 – "The Kids Run the Restaurant"

I don't know that Bob's Burgers is ever funnier than when Tina, Gene and Louise are all allowed to share a single storyline isolated from their parents, so when they teamed up to build an underground casino in the restaurant's basement – spearheaded by Louise – it was unsurprisingly funny as hell from beginning to end. Bob and Linda's story was hilarious too, with Bob's Burgers coming closer to "dark" humor than it usually gets in Bob's hand injury spraying blood all over Linda and everything else. As I've said before, this show is the sitcom to beat in 2013, and I doubt any show will.

7. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 5 – "Kissed By Fire"

"Kissed By Fire" was, after the awesome and fiery opening sword fight with the Hound, one of Game of Thrones' lower-action episodes, but I loved it. I can't guess about or speak to how people who haven't read A Song of Ice and Fire might feel about it, but as a fan of Martin's books for years before the show came along this episode contained a shitload of scenes I've been waiting to see for a long time, from the Hound's fight to Robb dealing with the Karstark situation to Jon and Ygritte's cave tryst to the shocking, slightly hilarious wedding reveals of the final scene (and while leaving out this season's more redundant Bran and Theon stories). Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's monologue in the Jaime/Brienne bath scene was Emmy-worthy. The whole hour was a treat for book fans.

6. Justified, Season 4 Episode 13 – "Ghosts"

While I had my issues with Justified season 4's Drew Thompson story arc in its early going, once it revealed Thompson's true identity the season almost immediately buckled down and delivered a lot of solid entertainment. Its season finale was structured in an interesting, almost defiantly backwards way, kicking off nearly immediately with its most tense, thrilling and bloody sequence, then actually winding the action down through the hour to a contemplative ending that, while not sad or "bad guys win" or even necessarily dark, has been haunting me since in a way the quippy and fun Justified doesn't usually aim for. Looking forward to season 5 already.

5. Hannibal, Season 1 Episode 2 – "Amuse-Bouche"

I don't think I've seen five shows this decade kick off as immediately spectacularly as Bryan Fuller's Hannibal. It's my favorite horror show in years by an astronomical margin, one of my favorite shows of 2013 and (feel free to declare this blasphemy) has probably already trumped 1991's Silence of the Lambs as the definitive screen depiction of Hannibal Lecter for me. I really, really love it. Though I could have found room for several of its first five hours on this list, episode 2 gets the nod because its case-of-the-week, involving a killer who turns his victims into living mushroom fertilizer for months while they're kept alive via IV, has been swimming in my nightmares for weeks.

4. Community, Season 4 Episode 8 – "Herstory of Dance"

I already wrote a full review of Community season 4's crowning achievement, but I'll just quickly reiterate here that it was a massively warm, pleasant half-hour of television that just made me feel happy. If I could travel into the brightest timeline alternate dimension where Dan Harmon was never fired from Community's 22-episode fourth season, this episode and "Basic Human Anatomy" are the two I would want to take with me unchanged to air as part of that season (though I would also want to take the Greendale Babies cartoon from the premiere and the trout farmer from "Advanced Documentary Filmmaking").

3. Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 4 – "And Now His Watch Is Ended"

2. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 9 – "The Dead and the Dying"

It was several years ago that I read about how the real historical Spartacus held his own gladiatorial games to honor one of his fallen brothers, using captured Roman soldiers as gladiators, and I've spent all of Spartacus: War of the Damned nervously eyeing the ticking-down episode count, wondering whether or not Steven DeKnight had just decided to skip this particularly juicy historical nugget. But it turns out, nope, he was just delaying our pleasure, saving one of the show's best episodes for its penultimate episode.

DeKnight tweaked history to bring our heroes into the action (rather than having the Romans fight each other, in the show they fight the former slave/gladiator main characters), and, to be blunt, it was deliriously fucking awesome. In a show that (despite what TV critics who hate thinking may claim) is normally one of most thoughtful and contemplative and consequence-heavy on television in its depiction of violence, it was a enormous fun to see an episode just kick back and let it rip with an hour of pure pump-your-fist-and-cheer-out-loud bloody spectacle for perhaps the first time since Gods of the Arena. Just awesome.

1. Spartacus, Season 3 Episode 10 – "Victory"

I've already written and talked about 2013's finest television achievement at arguably excessive length and have little more to add on the subject. But I'll emphasize one more time that Spartacus' finale really had its cake and ate it too, providing a rich emotional feast and the conclusions to years of thoughtful character work and tying a totally satisfying thematic bow on everything while also remembering to give us a final battle sequence that made Game of Thrones' "Blackwater" look like the skirmish at the end of a Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode. It's one of the best series finales and one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen.